Walking the Wheel of the Year

Medicine Walks ~ Journeys from the Center of the Earth
posted June 18, 2014

As Zenith Arc, my Sunrise Sadhana, is about to come to a climax on the Summer Solstice, I have decided to revive an old practice of mine, that of making Medicine Walks into each of the sacred directions. I will embark upon my first Medicine Walk on the Solstice, the final day of my sadhana, which feels like a wonderful point of departure and the perfect means for establishing a continuity, to carry forward all that I’ve experienced in this daily ritual practice.

A brief description of Medicine Walk:

“A medicine walk is like a short vision quest, [or walkabout] during which you pay attention to the omens in nature in order to find your medicine, which in the Native American sense is anything that is healing and positive to body and mind. During a medicine walk, you find a place where you can spend at least a half a day alone, walking, sitting and meditating in nature with as few distractions from civilization as possible. You focus on an important personal issue and seek wisdom and guidance in nature by looking for symbolic meaning from the things you observe.”

To this I would only add that I will not be going to random locales for these intentional walks, but will make pilgrimages to wilderness or natural destinations situated in the sacred directions, to learn what specific lessons and Medicine each of these directions holds for me and my individual growth.

But if I am to make these journeys into the directions, I will need a central reference point from which to determine the direction I am heading. I suppose I could use the home where I live to orient these walks. But, like many others, I feel that the spirit of this land continues to speak to us just as it spoke to its native inhabitants, and so I will honor their tradition by using “Bdote”, which in the Mdewakanton Dakota tradition in Minnesota, lies directly above the center of the Earth, and immediately below the center of the Heavens, as the center of my sacred hoop. Nothing could be more fitting, nor auspicious.

Here is some info on “Bdote”…

At the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers there is an island that has been a sacred site to the Mdewakanton Dakotas for many generations; it has been a gathering place for their important meetings and rituals.

Today it is called Pike Island, after Lt. Zebulon Pike who made a treaty with the Dakota on the island in 1805. The Dakota called it Wita Tanka, or “Big Island”, and they called the confluence of these rivers “Bdote”, meaning “the meeting of waters”.

It was here, at Bdote, they believed that life originally began and that their people emerged from the earth. With this is mind, it is difficult to not take notice of the distinctive phallic shape of the island and of the yonic form of the surrounding terrain that enfolds the island….

Moreover, in the Dakota’s world view, Bdote lay directly over the center of the Earth and immediately below the center of the Heavens. Thus, it was their axis mundi…

Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Nordic myth

Another such Center of the Earth was experienced by the Dakota visionary, Black Elk. Here are some excerpts from his extraordinary vision, as recounted in the book, Black Elk Speaks:

“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy….Then when he had been still a little while to hear the birds sing, he spoke again: “Behold the earth!” So I looked down and saw it lying yonder like a hoop of peoples. and in the center bloomed the holy stick that was a tree, and where it stood there crossed two roads, a red one and a black….And now the fourth Grandfather spoke, he of the place where you are always facing (the south), whence comes the power to grow. “Younger brother,” he said, “with the powers of the four quarters you shall walk, a relative….. four ascents you shall walk the earth with Power.”

Of this, Joseph Campbell says in The Power of Myth:

“That is the real mythological realization. It distinguishes between the local cult image, Harney Peak, and its connotation as the center of the world. The center of the world is the axis mundi, the central point the pole around which all revolves. The central point of the world is the point where stillness and movement are together. Movement is time, but stillness is eternity. Realizing how this moment of your life is actually a moment of eternity, and the experiencing the eternal aspect of what you’re doing in the experiences – this the mythological experience.”

In The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Campbell writes about The World Navel:

“The effect of the successful adventure of the hero is the unlocking and release again of the flow of life into the body of the world….

The torrent pours from an invisible source, the point of entry being the center of the symbolic circle of the universe… around which the world may be said to revolve. Beneath this spot is the earth-supporting head of the cosmic serpent, the dragon, symbolical of the waters of the abyss, which are the divine life-creative energy and substance of the demiurge, the world-generative aspect of immortal being. The tree of life, i.e., the universe itself, grows from this point. It is rooted in the supporting darkness; the golden sun bird perches on its peak; a spring, the inexhaustible well, bubbles at its foot. Or the figure may be of a cosmic mountain, with the city of the gods, like a lotus of light, upon its summit….Thus the World Navel is the symbol of the continuous creation: the mystery of the maintenance of the world through that continuous miracle of the vivification which wells within all things.”

Since the Summer Solstice is about the power of the South, I will be making my first journey to the South, to immerse myself into this energy and to honor this direction.

THE SACRED DIRECTIONS

8 Sacred Directions ~ Invocation
posted on May 1 & June 19, 2014

Another holy day of the Earth is upon us. For those who might like to give some ritual attention to this day, I thought I would share my personal invocation of the directions that I have developed over the years. While it is fairly idiosyncratic, it does contain some familiar refrains that others will recognize…

We invoke you, Spirit of the North

You who rules the cusp between endings and beginnings,
bless us with the gift of Conception.

In the dark of midnight,
bless us with the magic of Intention.

In the cold of Winter,
bless us with Purification.

We honor you in the feast of Yule Tide,
the Winter Solstice,
the moment when one cycle ends and another begins.

Thank you for the gift of Faith:
~ Faith that the light will return after the dark.
~ Faith that warmth will return after the cold.
~ Faith that life will return after death.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the Northeast

You who guides the unseen growth within the womb,
bless us with the gift of The Quickening.

In the Colors of the Dawn,
bless us with the gift of Expectation.

In the first hint of the Thaw,
bless us with the Promise of the new growth.

We honor you in the Feast of Imbolc,
as the days lengthen
and the gestating life kicks within the womb.

Thank you for the gift of Hope:
~ Hope that our prayers will be answered.
~ Hope that our intentions will come to pass.
~ Hope that our desires will be fulfilled.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the East

You who attends the emergence of new life,
bless us with the gift of Birth and Rebirth.

In the golden embers of the Rising Sun,
bless us with New Beginnings.

In the blush of Spring Time,
bless us with the gift of Germination.

We honor your in the Feast of Ostara,
the Spring Equinox,
as vitality returns to the world.

Thank you for the gift of Joy:
~ Joy that the darkness has past.
~ Joy that a new day has begun.
~ Joy that our paths have become clear.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the Southeast

You who shepherds the child,
bless us with the gift of Nurturing.

In the light of the Climbing Sun,
help us to Kindle our Desires.

In the Mild Days of Summer,
bless us with spirit of Cultivation.

We honor you in the Feast of Beltaine,
amidst playfulness and sensuality inspired by fragrant blossoms.

Thank you for the gift of Passion:
~ that we may be Passionate in living.
~ that we may be Passionate in loving.
~ that we may be Passionate in learning

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the South

You who urges the youth from the nest,
bless us with the gift of Fledging.

In the brilliance of the Sun at its Zenith,
give us with Drive to pursue our goals.

In the heat of Midsummer,
bless us with the gift of Flourishing Life.

We honor you in the Feast of Litha,
at the Summer Solstice,
at the height of the sun’s outpouring
of light and warmth and energy.

Thank you for the gift of Determination:
~ Determination to overcome fear.
~ Determination to overcome obstacles.
~ Determination to become who we are.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you Spirit of the Southwest

You who leads us into adulthood,
bless us with the gift of Maturation.

In the shimmer of the Afternoon Sun,
bless us with the gift of Reflection.

In the Dog Days of Summer,
bless with the gifts of First Fruits.

We honor you in the feast of Lammas,
the Loaf-Mass,
as the wheat fields are shorn
and stacked into sheaves.

Thank you for the gift of Recognition:
~ Recognition of who we are.
~ Recognition of our calling.
~ Recognition of our place in the world.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the West

You who escorts us into old age,
bless us with the gift of Elderhood.

In the glow of the Setting Sun,
bless us with the gift us Fulfillment.

In the glory of Autumn,
bless us with the gifts of the Great Harvest.

We honor you in the Feast of Mabon,
the Autumnal Equinox,
as we celebrate our Abundance.

Thank you for the gift of Wisdom:
~ Wisdom from all of that we have witnessed.
~ Wisdom from all that we have done.
~ Wisdom from all that we have been.

Aho. So may it be.

We invoke you, Spirit of the Northwest

You who ushers us unto death,
bless us with the gift of Transition.

In the dusk of Twilight,
we give our Gratitude.

In the chill of the First Frost,
bless us with the gift of Plowing Under.

We honor you in the Feast of Samhain,
as you open the Veil between the Worlds .

Within you the wheel of the year is complete.
Each ending is a new beginning.

Within the cusp of one cycle and the next
you bring a moment of time-out-of time
To weave our intentions
into the fabric of the future.

Aho. Aho. Aho.

***************************

Embedded within each of the invocations are 8 different cycles, all of which have correspondences with each other. Even though a cycle is a seamless continuum, there are distinct, identifiable phases during each cycle. The invocation honors those phases.

The invocations are built with a parallel structure ~ here is the order in which the 8 cycles appear in each invocation:

For some purposes this invocation may be too long and too formal in tone, so I invite you to have fun with with this and adapt as you see fit. Make it your own by subtracting what doesn’t resonate, and adding phrases that fit your sensibilities.

The images of the wheel of the year at top are from the following websites, which will provide more information on the wheel of the year and 8 earth rituals.

The American Bison, to my knowledge, was the first animal in the United States whose numbers were purposefully sought to be restored. I took these pictures in Iowa at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge that restored the tall grass prairie, bison, and elk to a significant patch of the Iowa landscape. Visiting the refuge figures into my own personal restoration, my Medicine Walk to the South, and my observance of the Earth’s high holy day, the Summer Solstice.

This land had originally been purchased from farmers by a power company that planned to build a nuclear power plant on it. How utterly fantastic that those plans were scrapped and the land subsequently dedicated to its present purpose – the restoration of an ecosystem that was all but obliterated from the face of the earth, the tall grass prairie. Pre-white settlement, the land that is now Iowa was about 85% prairie and was part of an ecosystem that has been called the “American Serengeti”. Today, 1/10th of 1% of Iowa is prairie, and the animals that evolved to thrive there are long gone. But this refuge, that now has over 8,000 acres, has sought to restore a piece of what once was.

To see buffalo, (while they’re not technically buffalo, to my mind this name much better connotes the animal’s wooly head and shaggy mane than ‘bison’ does), I could have visited buffalo ranches in Minnesota or taken a trip to one of the Dakotas. But to travel to Iowa, of all places, to see these animals restored to some of the best and priciest farmland in the world, this resonated with me deeply. For two reasons. One, I grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, on what once was the wide open prairie. So I have a kinship with this land and, even as a young boy, I frequently dreamt about, and felt, what the land once was. Second, I have been going through my own restoration process. So to visit such a recent and ambitious restoration undertaking in a land not so far removed from my homeland, well this struck a chord.

When I entered the refuge for the first time, these gentlemen greeted me:

This one in the picture below, which limped across the road, I later found out had been struck by lightning last fall. The bolt entered his shoulder and traveled to the ground through his leg. He is a survivor. It brought to mind my Stormwalk post from a couple of days ago.

I had four close encounters with the buffalo herd. Which was exceedingly fortunate, for they so readily disappear in landscape…So I feel inspired to add the buffalo to the South position in my personal medicine wheel.

A Pearl Crescent butterfly on a purple cone flower….

A wild rose – I did a simple communion ritual using a rose petal ~ a communion wafer never tasted so fragrant!

Bindweed…

A storm moved in across the prairie Sunday morning…

I saw the elk only once, from a distance, and this was as I was leaving the refuge for the last time, as the rain fell:

The refuge is a couple of hundred miles and practically due south from “Bdote”, which, as I mentioned in a previous post, is my point of departure for my medicine walk to the sacred directions.

For those who have read my posts, this trip on the Summer Solstice marked the culmination of Zenith Arc, my Sunrise Sadhana and journey to the solstice. It also marks the beginning of my Walk Through the Wheel of the Seasons ~ doing medicine walks to the sacred directions on the holy days of the Earth.

To observe the solstice, in addition to making this pilgrimage, I watched the sun rise in the east, I meditated under the sun at its zenith in “the Grail pose”, and watched the sun set in the west. So I took in the energy of the day as best as possible, observing and participating in the three key moments of the earth’s relationship with the sun: sunrise, zenith, sunset.

There are countless details I could share about my brief journey, but one last one: When I awoke this morning, sat up in my sleeping bag and looked out through the screen door of my tent, there, across a broad valley, was the sun rising in the east. I had no idea when I pitched my tent the day before that it would be perfectly oriented toward the rising of the sun. So this morning (Sunday) my sunrise vigil continued, from the comfort of my sleeping bag.

Every now and then, your post on the sin-eaters/condors crosses my mind. I discovered there’s a condor preservation not far from where I am in CA the other day. So one of these days I will have to venture up there.

Cnawan Fahey has walked down countless roads in this lifetime, but has found his greatest fulfillment in serving both as a Wilderness Guide and as a Spiritual Guide.
His personal credo is "Explore the Great Mystery", a credo which he has lived out in his many excursions through a multiplicity of Eco-Systems and Belief-Systems.
Like many other spiritual seekers, Cnawan has found the veils between the spiritual and physical planes to be the most transparent in the natural world. There, Spirit reveals itself in all of it glory.
In his work as a lay minister at an interfaith church, Cnawan has facilitated earth rituals designed to immerse the psyche into the metaphors of the season and to align the soul with the cycles of the Earth.
Cnawan has also led a variety of Eco-Spirituality immersion trips, outings, and workshops, and has taught wilderness survival skills as a form of ritual to connect with the Earth.